The Raven flew from a Coop?

So, I was prepared to do a post on Edgar Allen Poe, because January 19 was his birthday--which I was reminded of by this story about the Poe Toaster via Fark.com, and he is, after all, like the granddaddy of short story writing. He's the Godfather of Goth. Modern sf and mystery writers look back with admiration, just like Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, Arthur Conan Doyle, and lots more--and then there's the biography.

It's just, I only kind of thought I knew a bit about the biography. I actually had always heard about the kind of "probably drunk as all get out and unconscious on the street" ending, which was a horrific enough way for a brilliant mind to end. But cooping? I'd heard of rabies being considered as a diagnosis (waaaayyyy after the fact) and murder , but the cooping story is too horribly like a dreadful, ironic story not to think about--

The argument is made that Poe would've been too well-known in Baltimore to have been accosted by thugs and sent in, drunk, to vote like that, which I think is giving people then (or maybe ever ), too much credit--remember The Purloined Letter? People don't see what's in front of their faces, and also, who would expect a somewhat reknowned writer to turn up farshikkert and in odd clothes? Did he look familiar? So? They let drunk and beat-up people vote, apparently, all the time--the "maybe a little familiar" and "somebody literary" aspect isn't going to dawn on anyone.

And then there's the personal aspect of it--imagine the poor guy is sober for some period of time--knowing he has issues with the bottle, and is feeling good about that. He's been a long time getting over his first wife, who he adored, but he proposes to another woman, finding happiness again and leaves in search of a job. Something happens, and Philistine jackasses who don't know who he is are pouring this poison down his throat and dragging him about for, ultimately, an odd purpose (could they have really even rounded up enough beat-up, down-on-their-luck, drink-broken unfortunates to affect an election? A rational girl, or even me, would wonder). And then he's abandoned and in distress, and dies--only to have his name kind of flung from pillar to post by temperance-types. It's nightmarish, in that "awful enough to be true" kind of way.

Anyway, he deserved a lot better, and I know there are people whose Poe-exposure more-or-less extends to "The Raven" and The Tell-Tale Heart or those kind of B-movie adaptations, generally with Vincent Price. That kind of introduction doesn't let you really feel his detailed, even humorous, gimlet-eyed style.

Here's a link to what you might be missing:

Poe Stories